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All the latest news and informationSun, 05 Jan 2014 16:19:49 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.19How the Lumia 900 may be Microsoft and Nokia’s best shot at US marketsharehttp://www.4gnetwork.com/how-the-lumia-900-may-be-microsoft-and-nokias-best-shot-at-us-marketshare/
http://www.4gnetwork.com/how-the-lumia-900-may-be-microsoft-and-nokias-best-shot-at-us-marketshare/#commentsThu, 05 Apr 2012 17:11:31 +0000http://www.4gnetwork.com/?p=398The Lumia 900 is Nokia’s latest Windows Phone device, and it gets added to the quickly growing pile of other devices that features the Microsoft operating system. But this device is special. Not because of its hardware, what’s on it, or really anything else about the phone itself. In fact, …]]>The Lumia 900 is Nokia’s latest Windows Phone device, and it gets added to the quickly growing pile of other devices that features the Microsoft operating system. But this device is special. Not because of its hardware, what’s on it, or really anything else about the phone itself. In fact, what makes AT&T, Microsoft and Nokia so intertwined in this isn’t the actual device itself, but what it represents. This is the very first 4G LTE Windows Phone device in the US, on AT&T’s network, and that’s incredibly important for all the parties involved. It’s also the end of a long and involved story which began a year ago.

It’s no secret that Nokia hasn’t had much of a presence on the US market lately, especially when it comes to smartphones. As for Microsoft, they launched Windows Phone 7 with huge ambitions, but over the two years it’s been going, customer adoption has been rather low. In fact, many media pundits consider Windows Phone to be the loser in this field, with the iPhone and Android devices taking the vast majority of new customers. That’s the background of a meeting that occurred last year, when Nokia went to AT&T and asked to bring a new device to its stores. At first, the cellphone provider was skeptical. After all, Nokia isn’t that well known in the US, and Windows Phone hasn’t been much of a success. But AT&T was very interested in getting new LTE phones as soon as it could, because like every other carrier, they are trying to gain new customers that want this high speed access.

So Nokia went to Microsoft and asked for Windows Phone to support LTE, so they could build the device AT&T wanted. But for Microsoft, LTE was not a pressing issue. In fact, it was far down their roadmap. With a bit of insistence, the Nokia representatives managed to convince the software giant to revise their roadmap so that LTE would become a possibility. What followed was a very fast development cycle for the Lumia 900. Typically, a new phone takes around 18 to 24 months to go from design to being available in stores. But now, all three companies had a very big incentive. Microsoft wanted to increase its market share, Nokia wanted to gain some US presence, and AT&T would be getting the very first Windows Phone with LTE support, a major PR win. And thus, the Lumia 900 was born.

The story behind this device was nothing short of unique, and it’s clear that a lot of work had to be done for it to reach the stores in such a quick time frame. Of course, it’s no guarantee that the Lumia will actually succeed and customers will want to buy it. In fact, while most reviews are positive, others have mixed feelings about it. Still, it is a major milestone, and this insight information helps explain why all three companies put so much advertising and PR on this one release.

]]>http://www.4gnetwork.com/how-the-lumia-900-may-be-microsoft-and-nokias-best-shot-at-us-marketshare/feed/0Apple’s new iPad comes with 4G LTE supporthttp://www.4gnetwork.com/apples-new-ipad-comes-with-4g-lte-support/
http://www.4gnetwork.com/apples-new-ipad-comes-with-4g-lte-support/#commentsFri, 09 Mar 2012 16:10:10 +0000http://www.4gnetwork.com/?p=392There’s no question that the news of the hour, in fact the news of the week, was the new iPad that Apple introduced to the world on March 6. Like any other Apple products, the rumors have been going wild for a long time now, and while everyone was expecting …]]>There’s no question that the news of the hour, in fact the news of the week, was the new iPad that Apple introduced to the world on March 6. Like any other Apple products, the rumors have been going wild for a long time now, and while everyone was expecting a new iPad to be introduced at some point this quarter, details were not known for sure, and no one knew exactly what the announcement would look like. Now that the release came and went, let’s see what the new iPad looks like, and what it means for the world of 4G.

First, the new iPad doesn’t have a number. It’s not the iPad 3, it’s just the iPad. In fact, even though the company said they will be keeping the previous iPad 2 around and offer it at a lower price, they still don’t want to use a number. Instead, you have the iPad available at various prices, with different features, just like computers have always been. We’ll no longer have numbers, simply improved features of a single product.

So, what exactly are these new features? There’s no question that the big one is the new display, which Apple deems a “retina display” because of the high resolution and pixel density. The iPhone 4 made a huge splash when it came out with this type of display, but many weren’t sure if a 10″ tablet would benefit as much from this type of screen. But now that reviewers have had a chance to see the new display, there’s no doubt that everything looks so much crisper and clearer on this type of screen. This is reason enough for the iPad to raise above other tablets out there.

However, one other new feature that was introduced and perhaps didn’t get as much coverage was the introduction of an LTE chip. This means that if you buy an iPad with cell coverage, you now get access to full 4G download speeds. Indeed, the new iPad is available with plans from Verizon and AT&T, just like the previous one was, but instead of 3G speeds, you can get up to 10x faster transfers thanks to LTE. In fact, it’s one of very few tablets out there that supports LTE, which again places Apple’s product ahead of the competition.

And from the Apple store being down for most of the day when the pre-orders went live, there’s no question that this is going to be a popular product, so we can expect a huge increase in LTE customers soon. It’s interesting that the iPad gets 4G before the iPhone does, but this is probably due to the fact that Apple simply announces its new iPad earlier in the year than it does the iPhone, so there’s very little doubt that when autumn comes, we’ll see the next iPhone with LTE support as well.

The price on the new iPad is unchanged, and for new customers, it makes a lot of sense to go for this tablet. If you have that kind of money to spend on a tablet, the iPad seems to be the way to go, although in the lower end market, some Android choices like the Kindle Fire are still very competitive.

]]>http://www.4gnetwork.com/apples-new-ipad-comes-with-4g-lte-support/feed/0T-Mobile USA’s rollout plan for 4G LTEhttp://www.4gnetwork.com/t-mobile-usas-rollout-plan-for-4g-lte/
http://www.4gnetwork.com/t-mobile-usas-rollout-plan-for-4g-lte/#commentsMon, 27 Feb 2012 13:55:54 +0000http://www.4gnetwork.com/?p=390There’s no question that the future of cell phone providers lies with 4G, or LTE to be exact, and every company out there is working hard at laying out their high speed network to offer their customers the highest speed they can, and claim that they too are on board …]]>There’s no question that the future of cell phone providers lies with 4G, or LTE to be exact, and every company out there is working hard at laying out their high speed network to offer their customers the highest speed they can, and claim that they too are on board with the latest technologies. The race is on, and in fact has been on for some time now, but T-Mobile is the last one on the track, most likely because of their potential merger deal with AT&T which fell flat late last year. Now, the company announced that their USA LTE roll out plan is well under way.

In a press release last week T-Mobile USA announced that they will be spending $4 billion dollars in order to get their very own 4G network up and running by next year. All the other big providers in the country, including AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, all have their LTE networks working in many regions of the country. While coverage is still mostly limited to major cities, it’s growing fast. T-Mobile however has claimed for a long time that their current HSPA+ network was sufficient. In reality, HSPA+ can be considered a 3.5G network, where as it actually uses 3G phones and devices, but it provides download speeds that are slightly superior to 3G. But LTE offers a lot more, and is clearly the technology of the future, with every provider around the world moving in this direction. It was becoming very hard for T-Mobile to keep ignoring the switch.

The reality is that most analysts believe the company was simply hoping that its merger with AT&T would solve everything, and that they wouldn’t have to face this decision. But now that this isn’t going to happen, the cell phone provider has no choice but to bite the bullet. This $4 billion will be their biggest investment so far, and their aim is to have 50 major markets with LTE support by next year. Although the desire is clear, the details are less so. There’s still no word on which markets these will be, and when exactly they will all start getting coverage. Perhaps of more importance is the complete lack of details on which 4G phones will be available from the company. All of this will come in time, which is yet another reminder that when it comes to LTE, T-Mobile is simply not in the race quite yet.

From the few information we do know, it would appear that T-Mobile has at least solved its spectrum crisis. Because of the lack of spectrum, it couldn’t allocate enough frequencies to build yet another network. Now, it appears that their older 2G network is going to get some amputation done, where some of that spectrum will be reallocated for the new project. T-Mobile assures customers that they will keep supporting 2G for some time, but is quick to remind us that over 90% of customers now buy 3G smartphones.

]]>http://www.4gnetwork.com/t-mobile-usas-rollout-plan-for-4g-lte/feed/0Telus to start their own 4G LTE network in Canadahttp://www.4gnetwork.com/telus-to-start-their-own-4g-lte-network-in-canada/
http://www.4gnetwork.com/telus-to-start-their-own-4g-lte-network-in-canada/#commentsMon, 13 Feb 2012 12:48:19 +0000http://www.4gnetwork.com/?p=387There’s no question that LTE is where the cellphone providers are headed, and every major company has been busy rolling out their 4G support over the past years. In Canada, all the major providers are at some point in their roll out, and now Telus is joining the party, announcing …]]>There’s no question that LTE is where the cellphone providers are headed, and every major company has been busy rolling out their 4G support over the past years. In Canada, all the major providers are at some point in their roll out, and now Telus is joining the party, announcing that their own new 4G high speed network is ready to launch. While LTE is still a rather recent technology, the big companies like Bell and Rogers have had their own networks turned on for some time now. Is Telus late to the party, or is what they are providing worth the wait?

LTE is a very important part of the future of cellphones, because it offers very important speed upgrades for data over the air. Where 3G was a big upgrade over 2G and EDGE, 4G is once again a big leap forward, and many customers are eager to get on board. Indeed, every survey shows that people use their smartphones for more data usage than ever before, by going on social networks, watching videos, and more. With an LTE device, everything comes down quicker. In this initial roll out, Telus said that their high speed network will be available in 14 urban centers. This is consistent with how other companies have been delivering their own service, and it’s likely that this coverage will expand as months and years pass. For now, some of the covered areas include Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. The speed upgrade announced by the company is around 12 to 25 Mbps, or twice the speed of their current 3G devices, which is fairly consistent with other companies as well.

Of course, with a new network, you need new devices. Telus has long been using CDMA based technology, and LTE requires completely different antennas and chips. As such, you will likely have to get a new device even if you’re in a covered area. For now, Telus is offering only 3 devices that can take advantage of the 4G speeds: a USB key, a Samsung tablet, and the LG Optimus smartphone. This is a bit shy of what the other large players are now offering, but they promise more choice will be coming down the line. Telus has always been in an advantageous position however being able to offer both land line phones and wireless, which can help them retain customers even if they don’t have access to the latest technology right away. Indeed, accoding to their recently released Q4 results, their $2.7 billion revenue showed a 6.5% growth in their wireless customers, and many of them go for the more expensive smartphones. Data usage on the network grew by close to 43%.

Overall, there’s no question that even as 3rd or 4th player in the wireless field, Telus is holding its own, and seeing their business grow. They may be a bit late to the game with LTE, but now that they are rolling their network out, there’s no question that people will be taking advantage of the faster speeds.

]]>http://www.4gnetwork.com/telus-to-start-their-own-4g-lte-network-in-canada/feed/0ITU decides LTE-Advanced is True 4Ghttp://www.4gnetwork.com/itu-decides-lte-advanced-is-true-4g/
http://www.4gnetwork.com/itu-decides-lte-advanced-is-true-4g/#commentsFri, 27 Jan 2012 12:28:06 +0000http://www.4gnetwork.com/?p=3834G is one of those terms that keep coming back through marketing brochures for what the latest technologies happen to be in the cellphone market. Every carrier claims to have true 4G, and has been claiming that for years, regardless of what they actually use. The reason was simply because …]]>4G is one of those terms that keep coming back through marketing brochures for what the latest technologies happen to be in the cellphone market. Every carrier claims to have true 4G, and has been claiming that for years, regardless of what they actually use. The reason was simply because the real 4G specification, expected to be drafted by the International Telecommunication Union, was no where to be found. In fact, the ITU took way longer than expected to come up with a decision, likely because of massive lobbying campaigns. After all, which company wants to have to redesign its entire network just to be able to keep saying they are 4G? Now however, the ITU has decided itself. What does this mean for carriers and users?

First, let’s see what 4G really is. As expected, LTE is central to the ITU strategy, but more precisely, the organization went with LTE-Advanced, which is a stricter version of traditional LTE. To qualify as 4G, a network has to provide 100 Mbps connections over wireless, and 1 Gbps over wired. The whole network has to be fully IPv6 compliant. Frequencies have to be scalable over 40 MHz to avoid interference. Finally, global roaming has to be seamless, along with transitions between wireless and wired connections. This is a real step forward, and a good decision, which ensures that real 4G services will meet a good level of service. Technically, LTE-Advanced is just one of two new standard that are now under the umbrella called IMT-Advanced. The other one is WiMAX 2 which is a further refinement of the WiMAX protocol.

So, now that we know the technical details behind what 4G finally is, what does this mean for current providers? Will you keep being able to go to a store and buy a 4G phone? The answer, like many other things, is complicated. The problem right now is that a lot of different technologies are referred to as 4G, including things like HSPA+, which is really more like an advanced 3G version. Now, if companies want to comply, then very few can say they are currently offering true 4G. In Europe and Asia, support is much more accelerated than in the US, where spectrum is still an issue. To provide true 4G, the networks need enough frequency spectrum to do it, and right now that’s a major concern. But again, there’s no penalty for not listening to the ITU. It may be seen as deceptive practices, but all providers are at least working on moving to 4G, so it’s more like a half-lie. So the bottom line? It’s unlikely that any current cellphone provider will stop calling their network 4G.

And what about 5G? Some people wondered if the ITU wouldn’t just bypass the whole 4G deal, since it’s already so misused and called the IMT-Advanced technologies as 5G, but that just wasn’t possible. Each generation is around 10 years in the making, and what will end up being 5G is still many years away, so we won’t even have a hint of what it might be for a long time still.

]]>http://www.4gnetwork.com/itu-decides-lte-advanced-is-true-4g/feed/04G operators at CEShttp://www.4gnetwork.com/4g-operators-at-ces/
http://www.4gnetwork.com/4g-operators-at-ces/#commentsWed, 18 Jan 2012 15:19:56 +0000http://www.4gnetwork.com/?p=380This year at the Consumer Electronic Show, like every year, we could see all of the gadget makers show off their new products for the coming year. This included smartphone makers, along with all the carriers on which these phones will work. All of the US carriers talked in depth …]]>This year at the Consumer Electronic Show, like every year, we could see all of the gadget makers show off their new products for the coming year. This included smartphone makers, along with all the carriers on which these phones will work. All of the US carriers talked in depth about their vision for this year, and what will be coming on the market. Here’s an overview of what each one had to say, and what you can expect to see in the coming months.

First, if there’s one thing that’s clear, is that 4G is now a reality, and the focus of every single wireless carrier. 4G completely dominated CES and it was very visible from all the vendors and other organizations. To start off, AT&T currently has its LTE network well under way, and covers 26 markets as of now. They keep building this new network, and they’ve introduced the largest number of devices at the show, with over a dozen new LTE 4G phones. Many of them run Android, with some Windows Phone models as well. Sprint used to be the black sheep, going after its own WiMax system, but now they’re on board as well, with their brand new LTE network seeing the light of day in 3 markets. They also announced 3 devices that will be forthcoming, and when their 4G network actually launches at some point this year, customers will be able to take advantage of these new phones.

Verizon is still the big carrier, with the most impressive 4G network to date, covering 190 markets. It’s clear that the company is quickly letting its older CDMA phones by the wayside, and embracing LTE as fast as it possibly can. On the device side however, they had a smaller selection than AT&T. They announced 3 devices, including one tablet. T-Mobile was the one major carrier that still refuses to embrace LTE. The network that they call 4G is actually using HSPA+, which is 3G with additional features. In reality, the speed is close to what LTE currently offers, and with the 175 markets covered, their current network is still very impressive. Also, the fact that it still uses HSPA means that 3G devices work on it, and don’t need to be brand new devices made especially for LTE. Still, in the long term, there’s no question that LTE will be the wave of the future, and bring much faster speeds than HSPA+ is capable of, so it’s unclear what the long term goals of the company are.

Overall, 4G was everywhere at CES 2012, and each of the major networks was pushing their new devices, and their higher speed services. One notable exception of course is the iPhone, which is still only using 3G, and there was no sign whether or not the next version will support 4G. An interesting bit of information is that Verizon promised that no new device will come to their network without 4G support, which would seem to imply they will not support the iPhone 5 unless it has LTE. Time will tell whether that’s the case.

]]>http://www.4gnetwork.com/4g-operators-at-ces/feed/0Why 4G availability in the UK is years from completionhttp://www.4gnetwork.com/why-4g-availability-in-the-uk-is-years-from-completion/
http://www.4gnetwork.com/why-4g-availability-in-the-uk-is-years-from-completion/#commentsWed, 14 Dec 2011 20:59:49 +0000http://www.4gnetwork.com/?p=376Cell phone networks are getting increasing use, and people expect faster and faster speeds. In order to fulfill that demand, providers are moving to 4G, also called LTE networks. These high speed networks promise faster speeds for all, and bring within everyone’s palm the latest and greatest technology, allowing them …]]>Cell phone networks are getting increasing use, and people expect faster and faster speeds. In order to fulfill that demand, providers are moving to 4G, also called LTE networks. These high speed networks promise faster speeds for all, and bring within everyone’s palm the latest and greatest technology, allowing them to download at speeds never seen before. Every provider in every country is now contemplating moving to this new technology, but in the UK, delays have started to appear. Here’s why 4G availability in the UK is years away from completion.

To move to 4G, or LTE, cellphone providers need to use new spectrum, or new frequencies, that the government has to allocate to them. This process is regulated by Ofcom, the UK regulator that handles these things. The way this is done is by doing an auction, where all of the network providers bid on how much spectrum they need, and then essentially buy if off. This doesn’t need to be a very lengthy process, but right now it is, because of various factors. Ofcom was supposed to go through that bidding process this year, but it’s been delayed, and rumors now say that it won’t even be done in 2012. There are many reasons, some of them are bureaucracy, and another reason is the fact that Three, one of the cellular companies, doesn’t have as much invested in the 4G technologies as the others, and will likely require help setting up their new network. This adds complications to the whole process.

Then, even when the spectrum is allocated, 4G won’t magically appear either. Each company needs to actually build the network, which involves bringing up new towers, with new technologies and new antennas. It’s a long and costly process, and according to the latest estimates, we’re now looking at 2015 until most of the country starts getting 4G support. This is a long delay, and much later than many other countries, and has many people crying foul. Indeed, the UK was among the first to bring up many new wireless technologies, but now that 4G is at our doorsteps, it lags behind, and is slowly becoming one of the worse developed countries as far as deployment goes. The fault rests with Ofcom but also with the companies themselves, who’ve been going slowly with their deployment. It’s an expensive process for sure, and they are never certain that costs will be recouped.

Overall, it seems like those who want fast wireless signals still have a way to go. LTE devices are only now making their appearance on the world stage, and without the proper 4G network in place, they are useless. London, along with other major cities, will be the first to see this network based support, but even these central locations will take some times. If you live in the countries, then you may have 3-4 years to wait, at least.

]]>http://www.4gnetwork.com/why-4g-availability-in-the-uk-is-years-from-completion/feed/0The consequences of stopping the AT&T T-Mobile mergerhttp://www.4gnetwork.com/the-consequences-of-stopping-the-att-t-mobile-merger/
http://www.4gnetwork.com/the-consequences-of-stopping-the-att-t-mobile-merger/#commentsThu, 24 Nov 2011 15:13:26 +0000http://www.4gnetwork.com/?p=374AT&T has been trying to acquire T-Mobile for over a year now, with the deal being worth $39 billion. At first, the company was certain that it would get its way, even going so far as offering a very high default settlement, the money they would have to pay T-Mobile …]]>AT&T has been trying to acquire T-Mobile for over a year now, with the deal being worth $39 billion. At first, the company was certain that it would get its way, even going so far as offering a very high default settlement, the money they would have to pay T-Mobile should the deal not go through. But since then, both the DOJ and the FCC have worked to prevent this deal from going through. But what would happen if the deal doesn’t work, and what are the consequences for customers?

The deal would be historical, as one of the biggest deals in history. It would also bring two of the biggest nationwide US cellular networks together, reducing the competition from 4 to 3 major networks. This last point is what’s behind the actions by the FCC to recently try and block the merger. In technical terms, the FCC chairman has been encouraging the other members to refer the deal to an administrative judge, or in other words, they want the deal to be seen by a court, and struck down. The reasons are simple, such as a fear of a lack of competition, and what would happen to customers of T-Mobile should they be added to the AT&T family. But there would be consequences if the deal doesn’t go through also. While AT&T hasn’t been threatening directly, it has provided hints that seem to indicate they would not innovate as fast if their deal was denied. This could impact their roll-out of the new LTE network. The reason seems to be a lack of spectrum space, although experts disagree on that.

Also, because they promised such as a high fee in case the deal doesn’t go through, they would have to pay that money off, which would likely come right out of their research or network maintenance budget. It probably wouldn’t come from their profits. These actions could of course have consequences on users, but whether the short term negative impact would be better or worse than the long term effect is hard to say. If T-Mobile was acquired, many suspect that Sprint would be next on the chopping block, and when competition vanishes, then historically companies have been less likely to innovate or drop prices. Competition is instead what drives companies to be better, in order to incite customers to use them. A strong, competitive T-Mobile is almost surely better for customers than none at all. If they too were to deploy a robust LTE network, that simply means more coverage for everyone.

Overall, it’s very hard to say what the result will be, and we likely won’t know until February, at the earliest. That’s when the FCC is due to vote, and even then the story wouldn’t end. The deal has several stages to go through, and then AT&T would likely appeal any decision it thinks is unfavorable to the company. The result is that we likely won’t know the impact for years to come.

]]>http://www.4gnetwork.com/the-consequences-of-stopping-the-att-t-mobile-merger/feed/0Sprint to speed up 4G LTE deployment and streamline serviceshttp://www.4gnetwork.com/sprint-to-speed-up-4g-lte-deployment-and-streamline-services/
http://www.4gnetwork.com/sprint-to-speed-up-4g-lte-deployment-and-streamline-services/#commentsFri, 04 Nov 2011 11:23:51 +0000http://www.4gnetwork.com/?p=370Sprint held a talk at the recent Sprint Open Solutions Conference in Santa Clara, in front of hundreds of developers and industry experts, where the company CEO outlined their plans for the future, along with news that their LTE deployment would be sped up, in an attempt to streamline their …]]>Sprint held a talk at the recent Sprint Open Solutions Conference in Santa Clara, in front of hundreds of developers and industry experts, where the company CEO outlined their plans for the future, along with news that their LTE deployment would be sped up, in an attempt to streamline their services. The CEO, Dan Hesse, spoke at length about Sprint’s future in the cellphone industry, and how they plan to stay competitive in a very fast moving field.

Sprint has had the iDEN network for many years now, ever since they bought Nextel, supporting older phones, and it’s been working on shutting it down. With the ancient technology laid to rest, it will free up some spectrum for Sprint to move forward with future technologies. Dan emphasised that the company’s future is LTE and LTE Advanced. Originally, the plan was to bring these new technologies online within the next 5 years. Now, they are speeding up that time frame and promising LTE to be deployed over the course of next year, and by 2013 they will start delivering LTE Advanced, which uses the same technology but provides faster speed to users.

Right now, the provider has to support many different technologies, including iDEN, WiMax, 2G and 3G. Another way they are trying to streamline services is by implementing multi-modal antennas, which will take care of every type of connection over a single physical antenna. This will reduce costs and bring higher coverage to all. In a way, because Sprint has so many different cellphone technologies, that gives them more spectrum to start LTE coverage over a larger area, and they will be doing so over the 1900MHz frequency. In 2013, LTE Advanced will be introduced on 800MHz and 1600MHz, which will bring even more coverage, since lower frequencies give higher penetration.

As for 3G and WiMax, Sprint says it will keep covering both, but is hoping to cover 250 million people with LTE by the end of next year, and move users to 4G. Right now, many customers have 2G-WiMax phones, and starting early next year the first LTE device will be offered by the company, although it won’t support WiMax, so customers will need to choose between the two. With theoretical limits of close to 100Mbps download speeds, the new network will be a great jump for many of the provider’s users who are still stuck with 2G CDMA handsets.

By streamlining it’s offerings, Sprint hopes to remain at the forefront of technology and reach a wider audience. Right now, even between it’s many diverging offerings, there’s a lot of dead zones in it’s coverage maps. With things like multi-modal antennas and a larger spectrum dedicated to LTE, the cellphone provider may just pull it off before some of the other big players in the industry.

]]>http://www.4gnetwork.com/sprint-to-speed-up-4g-lte-deployment-and-streamline-services/feed/0Why is the iPhone 4S lacking 4G LTE?http://www.4gnetwork.com/why-is-the-iphone-4s-lacking-4g-lte/
http://www.4gnetwork.com/why-is-the-iphone-4s-lacking-4g-lte/#commentsFri, 21 Oct 2011 19:18:36 +0000http://www.4gnetwork.com/?p=357Anyone reading this site for a long time knows that LTE, also known as true 4G, is the future of the cell phone industry. Right now, both AT&T and Verizon are rolling out LTE deployments across the US, and other companies are doing the same thing around the world. LTE …]]>Anyone reading this site for a long time knows that LTE, also known as true 4G, is the future of the cell phone industry. Right now, both AT&T and Verizon are rolling out LTE deployments across the US, and other companies are doing the same thing around the world. LTE allows for much faster speeds, sometimes even faster than what most people get at home from a broadband connection. There are few LTE phones, but they are coming out, and in 2012, we’re expecting to see many more. But of course, right now they will mostly all be Android based. Apple made the strategic decision that the iPhone 4S would not offer this new technology.

Did Apple make a mistake on this one? Why didn’t it go ahead and add LTE support to the iPhone 4S? It’s fairly easy to find out why it’s lacking 4G, and why Apple’s decision might have been quite smart. In fact, there’s four main negatives for a phone to support LTE. First, coverage isn’t everywhere. In fact, it’s quite spotty. Right now, both major providers are adding next generation antennas in certain urban centers only. That means anywhere else in the country, even right outside these “centers”, your LTE support drops. This means for the phone to keep working, it also has to support all the other technologies such as HSPA.

Which brings us to the second reason. Apple already had to cram in both GSM and CDMA support in the iPhone 4S, making it a world phone. To add LTE, they would have had to add another set of chips, without removing anything. It would have certainly meant a bigger phone, and Apple does not add to the size or weight of a product without a very compelling reason. With this kind of coverage, it seems doubtful any Apple executive would see this as a good trade. Also, adding chips means the phone costs more. Apple products are generally seen as expensive devices, and adding to the price of the iPhone 4S is not something that would have been received well, so cost wise, LTE would have been a problem.

The last reason is the amount of power required by LTE. To use these higher speeds, the phone needs to use more processor power, and send more power to the antenna, which means the battery life starts shrinking. Worse, if you’re constantly switching between two technologies outside of the coverage zones, this drains the battery life even more. So it’s likely that even if you were lucky enough to be in a covered zone, your battery life would have taken a hit, which is again something Apple was not willing to compromise on. So knowing all that, did the company make the right decision by not adding 4G to the iPhone? We’ll know for sure by the time the next one is released, but for now it sure seems like a sensible choice.